Obama Swing State Ad Touts First-Term Record

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Obama campaign is going on the air in nine battleground states this week with a new TV ad that focuses solely on the president’s record and the four accomplishments of which Democrats are most proud.

The entirely positive spot — titled “Go” — is the first attempt by President Obama to encapsulate his three and a half years in office and use it as a second-term sales pitch in targeted markets.

“We’re certainly running on our record,” senior Obama strategist David Axelrod said of the ad in an interview Sunday on ABC’s This Week.

In just 60 seconds, the ad reminds viewers of the economic crisis Obama inherited in early 2009 — “America’s economy spiraling down,” the narrator says — and strives to portray Obama as the nation’s rescuer — “He believed in us. Fought for us.”

The ad touts the resurgence of the U.S. auto industry, killing of Osama bin Laden, end of the Iraq War and a positive trend in private sector job growth as the signature achievements of Obama’s first term.

It notably does not mention his signature legislative achievement — the Affordable Care Act — or Wall Street reform.

“We’re not there yet. It’s still too hard for too many. But we’re coming back,” the narrator says, “because America’s greatness comes from a strong middle class. Because you don’t quit, and neither does he.”

Obama campaign officials said the ad will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — a list that offers fresh insight into the states the president is making his top priority for November.

Of the five multi-state TV ads aired by the Obama campaign this year — including the latest, “Go” — four have included Iowa, Ohio and Virginia.

Obama officially kicked off his re-election campaign with rallies in Ohio and Virginia on Saturday, and he has visited Colorado, Florida and North Carolina within the last month. The president stops in Nevada this week. And while he hasn’t been to Pennsylvania this year, Vice President Joe Biden has visited three times, while first lady Michelle Obama has visited twice.﻿